2013 Legal Elite

Top Tar Heel lawyers reminisce about how their time as undergraduates turned them into overachievers.

Though brief, one’s college years leave a lifelong impression. That’s why we asked the top of the 12th class of Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite how the experience helped prepare them for law school and their careers. They received the most votes in 14 business-related specialties. Their selection began with emails directing more than 20,000 active members of the State Bar to ballots on BusinessNC.com. Lawyers were not allowed to vote for themselves and could pick an associate or partner only if they also chose someone from outside the firm in the same category. More weight was given to those votes. Less than 3.5% of the state’s lawyers — 735, to be exact — made the list this year.